A New York City Jazz Band (Meet The Band)

Welcome to our blog! It’s an exciting time to be playing music in New York City. I get all sorts of questions from friends and fans when we play live. “How long have you been playing in a New York City jazz band?” “Where can I find your music?” “Do you take requests?” And with that I would like to start the Sweet Tooth Jazz Band blog with an answer to the first of these questions.

How long have you been playing in a New York City jazz band?

The short answer is, “since I moved to New York City in 2001.” The more relevant answer is that I started playing bass in the NYC gypsy jazz and the traditional jazz communities around the summer of 2011. I had studied jazz in college, but like most traditional and folk musicians I found the academic nature of modern jazz stuffy and esoteric. When I first discovered the swing music and gypsy jazz NYC communities I was blown away by how you could play jazz music in NYC and get people to dance! Imagine that. Dancing to an NYC jazz band! I started learning the songs and hanging out at places like Mona’s and St. Mazie. I was hooked. 

Fast forward to 2020 when everything got shuffled around. The gents in The Sweet Tooth Jazz Band codified as a group just when live jazz music in New York started popping up again. The chemistry was instant. As we started playing live music in New York at places like Radegast we were able to take our blend of blues, classic jazz, and fun times and apply it to bigger stages and events.